x

Science

Pfizer to Spend $11.6B on Migraine Treatment Maker Biohaven

Pfizer is starting to put its COVID-19 cash influx to use by spending $11.6 billion to venture deeper into a new treatment area.

The New York vaccine and cancer drug maker said Tuesday it will use cash on hand to buy the remaining portion of migraine treatment developer Biohaven Pharmaceuticals it does not already own.

Pfizer will pay $148.50 in cash for each share of Biohaven, which makes Nurtec ODT for treating and preventing migraines and has a nasal spray under development.

Pfizer Inc. brought in more than $14 billion in sales during the recently completed first quarter from its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and its new pill treatment for the virus, Paxlovid.

Most of that came from Comirnaty, which also rang up nearly $37 billion in sales last year. But revenue from Comirnaty, which Pifzer developed with BioNTech, is expected to fade in the coming years, and Pfizer also faces the loss of patent protection for some key products in its broad portfolio over the next decade.

That includes Eliquis for preventing blood clots and strokes and the Prevnar 13 vaccine for preventing pneumonia and related bacterial diseases.

The company plans to have about $25 billion in sales by 2030 come from new business developments.

The deal announced Tuesday is a step in that direction. U.S. regulators approved Nurtec tablets for treating migraines in February 2020 and for preventing them about a year ago.

Nurtec ODT brought in nearly $124 million in sales in the first quarter, and Biohaven expects $825 to $900 million in product sales this year.

Last November, Pfizer said it would invest $350 million in Biohaven to help sell Nurtec OTD and the spray, zavegepant, outside the United States.

Pfizer said Tuesday the spray is on track for U.S. acceptance in the current quarter, and an oral gel version of it also is being developed for preventing chronic migraines.

The deal price announced Tuesday represents a 33% premium over Biohaven’s 90-day weighted average trading price of $111.70 for Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd., which is based in New Haven, Connecticut.

The deal for Biohaven also includes some other potential treatments in early stages of development.

Other elements of Biohaven’s late-stage development pipeline will go to a new, publicly traded company that keeps the Biohaven name.

The boards of both Pfizer and Biohaven have approved the sale, but Biohaven shareholders and regulators till need to ok it.

It is expected to close by early 2023, once the new company spinoff is completed.

Shares of Biohaven, which had tumble below $100 in recent weeks, soared about 70% before the opening bell to $141.50. Pfizer’s stock slipped.

RELATED

If the high stakes presidential election is causing troublesome thoughts, existential dread or rifts with loved ones, there’s no need to white knuckle through it.

herald

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.

Video

Las Vegas Says Goodbye to the Tropicana with a Flashy Casino Implosion (Vid)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sin City blew a kiss goodbye to the Tropicana before first light Wednesday in an elaborate implosion that reduced to rubble the last true mob building on the Las Vegas Strip.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sin City blew a kiss goodbye to the Tropicana before first light Wednesday in an elaborate implosion that reduced to rubble the last true mob building on the Las Vegas Strip.

There's an art to making smoothies that deserves its own spotlight.

ATHENS - The sea turtle populations in Greece, including on the islands of Zakynthos and Crete, as well as Cyprus are coming back after years of decline, spurred by plans to protect them and the work of activists and conservationists in the field.

NICOSIA - In what likely will further impede any hope of reviving the divided island, the Turkish-Cypriot occupied side is going ahead with plans to revive the abandoned resort of Varosha that has been shut down since 1974 Turkish invasions.

espa

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.